


accidentally in love

by beegreen



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Miscommunication
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-09 00:19:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11657700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beegreen/pseuds/beegreen
Summary: “Fuck, Jamie, this is getting ridiculous. You do realize that you and Tyler act more like a married couple than some of our friends who are actually married?” Jordie asks.





	accidentally in love

**Author's Note:**

> As always thanks to Helen for the beta and the advice.

Jamie is lounging on his couch, comfortable against the armrest with Tyler pressed against his side as they play yet another round of NHL 17. Cash, Marshall and Gerry are settled on the floor by their feet resting, every so often whining for a scratch but mostly content. 

It’s relatively quiet aside from the hum of the TV and the soft popping of the microwave popcorn, which explains why they all jump at the loud bang.

“The fuck was that?” Tyler asks wide-eyed, racing after the dogs who’ve sprinted towards the kitchen, barking incessantly. 

There’s a puff of grey smoke coming from the microwave, which has gone dark, no light or numbers on the display. 

“Shit, I think it’s broken,” Jamie yells over the barking, pressing the open button and carefully removing the now charred popcorn bag inside. “Did you set it for too long?”

“Nah, two minutes like always. It must’ve malfunctioned or something,” Tyler answers from underneath the counter where he’s calming the dogs down by alternating between feeding them treats and scratching their bellies. 

“I’m going to have to buy a new one. It’s like my go-to kitchen appliance,” Jamie sighs as he attempts to take the plug out and back in and fumbling with the buttons. Once he’s deemed it a lost cause, he opens a window to let out the rest of the smoke. He kneels down onto the floor next to Tyler, Gerry in all his puppy enthusiasm immediately pawing at his knee, before climbing into his lap and lavishing him with kisses. Jamie huffs out a laugh in spite of himself because even his soured mood isn’t immune to puppies. 

“So, let’s go get you one,” Tyler says, bumping his shoulder. 

“What, like now?” Jamie asks, now being subjected to tongue baths by both Cash and Gerry. 

“Yeah, why not?” Tyler replies before standing up and offering Jamie a hand to pull him up.

Jamie isn’t sure spending his Friday shopping for home appliances is the way to go, but Tyler looks so earnest, he can’t help but agree - which is how he ends up spending the next three hours scouring home improvement stores with Tyler until they finally find a microwave. 

__

Tyler’s been back from China all of two days when Jamie gets a phone call in the middle of the night. 

“Hello,” Jamie answers groggily, rubbing at his eyes to try and gather himself. 

“Hey, Chubbs,” an all-too-cheerful Tyler replies. 

Jamie’s finally regained his faculties enough to look over at his alarm clock and see the big bright 3:30 taunting him. “Tyler, it’s not even 4 am, is everything okay?”

“Ugh, yeah, sorry about that, jet lag you know. Should I call back later?”

Jamie groans, “Just go ahead I’ve already picked up, what’s up?” He repositions himself onto his side, keeping his eyes closed in the hopes that he’ll be able to fall back asleep easily once they hang up. 

“Umm, well I haven’t been sleeping well since I’ve gotten back and at first I thought it was the time difference, but now I think it’s my mattress. It sucks. I need a new one.” 

Jamie takes a deep breath, he rarely gets upset with Tyler, but he’s definitely annoyed at this moment. “Seggy, did you seriously call me and wake me up in the middle of the night to tell me you need a new mattress?” 

“Uh, yeah. Sorry about that. But like we were such a good team shopping for a microwave, I figured you know you’d help me with this?” Tyler says cautiously. 

“You want to know if I’d go mattress shopping and this couldn’t wait till morning?” Jamie grumbles.

“I got excited, I’m sorry. Will you go though?” Tyler asks. Jamie’s not even sure why Tyler doubted it, he rarely if ever says no to Tyler about anything. 

“Yes, I’ll go,” Jamie says. 

“Nice!” Tyler replies and Jamie can practically hear the grin in his voice over the phone. “Have a good night, Jameson,” and just like that Tyler hangs up, leaving Jamie far too awake for 4 am. 

__

A week later, Tyler’s new mattress has yet to be delivered due to some incident at the warehouse and Tyler has decided to take residence in Jamie’s guest room.

“It’s way more comfortable than my bed, even your couch is better than my old mattress,” Tyler had said when Jamie brought it up after the first night. He wasn’t going to complain; after all those years living with Jordie and Juice, it was nice having someone else in the house again and dogs to greet you when you got home. 

Jamie is in his office, keeping his weekly Skype date with Jenny.

“So when do you think you’ll come up and visit?” she asks.

“I’m thinking in a few weeks, closer to Jordie’s birthday. We can both celebrate then.”

Jenny is about to reply when Tyler opens the door, sneaking his head in. “Have you washed my blue button down yet?” he asks, before catching sight of Jenny on the screen. Tyler walks over to where Jamie’s sat, leaning behind Jamie and placing his face over his shoulder to see better, “Oh, hey Jenny. Sorry about that. How are you?”

On screen, Jenny raises her eyebrows, shooting Jamie a puzzled look, before smiling warmly back at Tyler. 

“Hey. I’m doing good, work, family, the usual you know. How are you? Saw that new puppy of yours, he’s adorable.” she says.

“Yeah, he’s great, though sometimes I’m convinced he loves Jamie more than me,” Tyler replies, pouting ridiculously, which Jamie catches sight of in the viewfinder. 

“Anyway, sorry to interrupt. Nice seeing you Jenny,” Tyler waves.

“You too,” Jenny smiles back. 

“I’ll just grab another shirt,” Tyler whispers to Jamie, leaning in as to not interrupt him and Jenny further, before turning to leave the room.

“Sounds good. I’ll do the laundry later,” Jamie twists his head to tell Tyler as he retreats, when he looks back to the screen, Jenny’s expression is unreadable. 

“You doing Tyler’s laundry now?” she asks.

“His clothes and mine have kinda gotten all mixed up, so it just makes sense,” Jamie says.

Jenny furrows her brows at that, “It does?”

“Yeah, I mean it makes sense cause he’s sort of been living here,” Jamie replies.

Jenny’s tone is higher than usual when she asks, “He’s moved in?” 

“Not really, uh, just for a little while, until his new mattress comes in. It’s been delayed so he’s been here a week so far, but it should arrive soon,” Jamie says. 

Jenny stays silent for a second, seemingly contemplating what to say next, when the doorbell rings and the symphony of barks and howls begins in response.

“Oh, I gotta go, that must be the first guy. Tyler and I are interviewing potential dog-sitters, since his old one moved. Talk to you later.” 

“Bye,” Jenny responds with a smug grin, and Jamie will have to ask her what that’s about later, but for now he’s got interviews to hold.

__ 

Jamie’s freshly showered and heading to his dresser to grab some clothes, when he hears his phone going off on the nightstand by his bed. Jordie’s face lights up on the screen, “Hey Jord,” he answers.

“Hey, Chubbs. I just got your birthday gift,” Jordie says, somewhat hesitantly. 

“I swear we set the delivery date for your actual birthday. I hope you like it though?” Jamie replies.

“I love it man. Thank you so much. But that’s actually why I called, uh, we?”

Jamie had been trying to hold the phone pressed between his cheek and shoulder, while pulling up his boxers, but the apprehension in Jordie’s voice makes him shift the phone into his hand and straighten up. “We, yeah me and Tyler. I thought he said he put both our names on the card. Did he forget?”

“No, no he didn’t. Um,” Jordie falters and the line goes silence for a moment. 

Jamie double checks his screen to make sure the call is still going. “Hey, man you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m still here. But does that mean what I think it means? You and Tyler, you finally figured your shit out then?” 

“What? What did we need to figure out? We weren’t fighting,” Jamie says, confused. 

“I mean I owe you a congratulations. You two are finally dating, eh?”

“Wait, what, NO! No, we’re not dating,” Jamie sputters.

“Fuck, Jamie, this is getting ridiculous. You do realize that you and Tyler act more like a married couple than some of our friends who are actually married?” Jordie asks.

Jamie hasn’t felt this lost for words since his first year in the NHL. “Uh, no we don’t,” he tries.

“Yes, yes you do. You two have always been weirdly co-dependent, but this summer has been another level. You spend more time together than apart. You went shopping for home appliances when your microwave broke. You helped him buy a mattress. And don’t think Jenny didn’t tell me how you fucking interviewed dog sitters for his dogs at your place last week. And now I’m getting a joint birthday present from you two? I’ve known Tyler for five years man and we’ve never exchanged birthday gifts,” Jordie shoots back.

Jamie’s frozen, desperately trying to make sense of what Jordie’s just said, his mind replaying the moments he hadn’t thought anything of before, which is of course exactly when Tyler’s voice carries from the hallway as he steps into Jamie’s bedroom. “Hey, Jameson any thoughts on what you want for dinner tonight?” His voice is loud enough that Jordie can hear it through the phone.

“See,” he snorts and promptly hangs up. Fucker.

Jamie drops his hands at his sides, he’s stunned and he can feel the color start to drain from his face. How had he not realized this sooner? Did Tyler notice? How have they been so oblivious to the fact that they were acting like a couple all this time? Was it even possible?

By now, Tyler’s moved right in front of him. “Hello, Jamie,” Tyler says gesturing wildly with his hands. “You alright man?”

Jamie continues to stand there mutely, his thoughts a blur. He really wishes he wasn’t having this realization clad in only boxers.

Tyler’s face scrunches up in confusion. “Jamie?” Tyler tries again, tone edging on panicky.

“Jordie just.. He said… He thought… Are we?” Jamie stammers before taking a deep breath. “Jordie thought we started dating. He thinks we act like a married couple. And I think he’s right, we act like a fucking couple, Seggy!” 

Tyler stays silent, and Jamie really wants to, no needs to know, what he’s thinking. But Tyler just stands there, facial expression unchanged and Jamie can’t help but start to fidget. “I uh..” Jamie starts, mind hysterically racing trying to think of something to say to smooth over the situation.

But he gets cut off by Tyler, “Is that a bad thing?” Tyler asks, while leveling Jamie with that look- the one he’s seen Tyler use on nights out when he wants to pick up, his eyes sparkling and a teasing smirk gracing his lips. 

Jamie flushes. “No, not at all,” he says, stomach swooping.

Tyler beams in reply, eyes crinkling, dimples on display. Jamie’s seen Tyler smile like that before, but it’s rare, like when he finally sees the pups after a long road trip or when he scores a game winning goal - and that knowledge is what gives Jamie the confidence to dip forward and place a quick soft kiss to Tyler’s lips. 

“Hey, I wasn’t ready,” Tyler whines when Jamie pulls back.

Jamie grins, relieved. And makes sure to give him ample time when he leans in the second time.


End file.
